1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the multi-functional peripheral (MFP) apparatuses provided for connecting to a computer to receive commands and instructions from the computer to perform functions such as printing, copying, sending/receiving facsimiles, scanning of documents, and/or displaying/projecting images. More particularly, this invention relates to an improved computer peripheral apparatus (CPA) either controlled by a computer to perform tasks according to instructions written in a scanned image document, or a CPA includes CPA's own processor with a data storage capacity and/or portable storage devices interface ports for storing data into portable data storage devices to intelligently perform functions without requiring instructions from a computer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Even though the recognition accuracy and processing speed of the optical character recognition (OCR) technologies have made significant progresses in recognizing characters from the scanned images, there are still technical limitations that prevent a user to more conveniently apply the OCR technologies to efficiently carry out related functions and tasks. As of now, a multi-functional peripheral (MFP) apparatus such as a copier/scanner/fax/printer apparatus is connected to a computer and operated according to commands and instruction received from the computer as a passive and dependent device. A user has to execute specific program, or even programs, through a computer in order to control and operate the peripheral apparatuses. The additional requirements to control the computer peripheral apparatus (CPA) and MFP apparatus through a computer impose unnecessary limitations to the functionalities and usefulness of the CPA and the MFP apparatus and also cause a waste of user's time to operate the CPA and the MFP apparatus.
Conventional computer peripheral apparatuses (CPA) also include an image projector connected to a computer. A user operates the image projector connected to a computer is required to control the projector by entering commands and instructions on the computer to display images stored as a computer file, such as a Power Point file. The peripheral apparatuses as implemented now are operated almost entirely as a passive device without much intelligence.
The peripheral apparatuses such as image display monitors, image projectors, printers, and/or the MFP apparatuses generally have no intelligence or capabilities to operate and control the functionalities of their own operations. Such limitations thus significantly limit the operational flexibilities and functionalities of such apparatuses.
As of now, many of the optical recognition programs are providing more intuitive controls for user to marked the desired scanned areas on the scanned images for optically recognizing only the designated areas. However, after marking out the scanned and ignored areas, and marking out some scanned areas for the OCR program to process as text or as graphic element, other than an option for a user to proof read the recognized text by the OCR program, a user still has very limited control over the desired data types, file formats and file types and the content organization and structure of the OCR outputs.
More specifically, the optical character recognition programs as now available are still image oriented. The optical character recognition program basically performs merely primitive recognition operations from raw image according to the location and shapes of the image elements. Almost all the intelligence and user control are directed to the checking the accuracy of the character recognition results and correction of the incorrect OCR output. Other than allowing a user to correct errors of character recognition, there is no further management and processes after the initial recognition operations. However, a user of the OCR often has other purposes than making sure all the image characters are correctly recognized. It is often required that the data and information included in a scanned document be further processed to produce a document that is further organized or tabulated to produce a file of certain formats. Conventional OCR techniques and programs however do not provide such user control functions and the practical usefulness of the OCR programs is therefore greatly limited.
Furthermore, in a co-pending application Ser. No. 11/788,889, the Applicant of this invention also disclosed an OCR system to function with flexibilities for controlling the desired file formats, document organization and content arrangements of the output file. The disclosures made in the co-pending patent application Ser. No. 11/788,889 further provides a scanning/OCR function to recognize a first section of an image document that includes commands and/or instructions to invoke the executions of different programs and functions. However, the recognition and execution of the commands and/or instructions are essentially depending on software/hardware functions carried out by a computer. The computer peripheral devices are controlled by a computer as a passive device without much intelligence.
Therefore, there is still a need in the art of designing and fabricating CPA and MFP apparatuses to provide new and improved device configurations with data processing and file management functions such that the above discussed limitations and difficulties can be overcome.